This study investigates learning passive motor control strategies. Passive control is understood as control without active error correction; the movement is stabilized by particular properties of the controlling dynamics. We analyze the task of juggling a ball on a racket. An approximation to the optimal solution of the task is derived by means of optimization theory. In order to model the learning process, the problem is coded for a genetic algorithm in representations without sensory or with sensory information. For all representations the genetic algorithm is able to find passive control strategies, but learning speed and the quality of the outcome are significantly different. A comparison with data from human subjects shows that humans seem to apply yet different movement strategies to the ones proposed. For the feedback representation some implications arise for learning from demonstration.

In the population model presented, an evolutionary dynamic is explored which is based on the operator characteristics of genetic algorithms. An essential modification in the genetic algorithms is the inclusion of a constraint in the mixing of the gene pool. The pairing for the crossover is governed by a selection principle based on a complementarity criterion derived from the theoretical tenet of perception-action (P-A) mutuality of ecological psychology. According to Swenson and Turvey [37] P-A mutuality underlies evolution and is an integral part of its thermodynamics. The present simulation tested the contribution of P-A-cycles in evolutionary dynamics. A numerical experiment compares the population's evolution with and without this intentional component. The effect is measured in the difference of the rate of energy dissipation, as well as in three operationalized aspects of complexity. The results support the predicted increase in the rate of energy dissipation, paralleled by an increase in the average heterogeneity of the population. Furthermore, the spatio-temporal evolution of the system is tested for the characteristic power-law relations of a nonlinear system poised in a critical state. The frequency distribution of consecutive increases in population size shows a significantly different exponent in functional relationship.

Our goal is to understand the principles of Perception, Action and Learning in autonomous systems that successfully interact with complex environments and to use this understanding to design future systems